'Magic' image shows blue whale munching krill

Local photographer Jerry Allen captured this image of a blue whale feeding at Nine Mile Bank off the coast of San Diego County.

/ Jerry Allen

Local photographer Jerry Allen captured this image of a blue whale feeding at Nine Mile Bank off the coast of San Diego County.

Local photographer Jerry Allen captured this image of a blue whale feeding at Nine Mile Bank off the coast of San Diego County. (/ Jerry Allen)

After reading a recent story about local blue whale sightings, San Diego photographer Jerry Allen shared a stunning image of a blue feeding on krill off the county's coast at Nine Mile Bank.

He took the photo in November. "There were about 10 blue/fin whales that day. I now call it the 'magic day,'" Allen said.

"I actually had four 'pass by's' on that particular dive," he said. "I dive with just a small 'pony' tank to extend my down time when a whale, dolphin or whatever comes by. There was a lot of krill in the water that day which is critical to getting such a rare shot. It was a calm sunny San Diego day and the (visibility) was about 100 feet."

Allen said blues are very difficult to photograph. "I figure I'll get a photo op about one time in 10 trips," he said. "It's also illegal to chase them, so you have to get lucky with an animal choosing to come to you."

The world's largest animals have made regular appearances at the bank and other spots in recent years, a phenomenon that biologists attribute to a bounty of shrimp-like krill in local waters. Roughly 2,500 of them transit the coast of California.

"Some people travel all over the world to find these guys," Allen said. "They don't know -- until your story -- that they're in our back yard. I hear an international photo guide is bringing in groups this year to SD for (more than) $10,000 per person."

Allen routinely spies on "blue water" animals in Southern California waters. An electrical engineer by training, Allen has been a nature photographer for 20 years and his images have been published in many books and journals associated with groups such as the Cousteau Society, San Diego's Birch Aquarium and the Calif. Academy of Science.

In 1992, while accompanying a group of marine biologists to the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, he documented a new species of nudibranch which was named for him (Ceratosoma alleni), according to his website.